Gene Technology Bill: Impact on Winegrowers and New Zealand Winegrowers' Response
Genetic modification has long been a topic of hot debate.
Co-existence of genetically modified (GM) and non-GM plants in New Zealand industries will be challenging, but is achievable, a review has found.
In a recent article in the New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, leading researcher and chief technical officer for AgResearch subsidiary Grasslanz Technology, John Caradus, looked at the issue through a global lens to see what the experience of other nations had been.
Proposed legislation in New Zealand is expected to allow greature use of GM and gene editing technology, including in plants; making co-existence critical to the needs of different industries of the primary sector. The issue was repeatedly raised in submissions on the Gene Technology Bill before the NZ Parliament.
"We know co-existence is achievable because several other nations have successfully managed it, including nations that are both major producers of GM products and non-GM products, with the latter including products from the organic sector," Caradus says.
"Organic farmers obviously have a particular interest given GM use is regulated to be zero. Co-existence regulations and guidance have been developed in many countries and can occur with appropriate planning and communication within farming communities. This must be working effectively when you consider that countries with the largest areas devoted to organic agriculture also have amongst the highest land area used for GM crops."
Genetic modification and gene editing have enabled major gains in the performance of crops globally, and opportunities to enhance pasture plant species are now being tested.
Caradus says co-existence has been a contentious issue since GM technologies were commercially released in the 1990s. In New Zealand in 2002, a public controversy emerged over the importation of corn claimed to be contaminated with GM corn, prompting a formal probe by Parliament.
"In the first decade of commercial GM use, there were a significant number of contamination incidents resulting from GM presence in non-GM crops and seed, some with a significant financial penalty," Caradus says.
"However, these types of incidents seem to be less frequent in recent times. New Zealand needs to learn from mistakes that occurred in the first decade of GM crop use and determine effective methods for ensuring co-existence of GM, non-GM and organic farming systemrs."
Strategies for effective co-existence included both on-farm management decisions and downstream segregation during processing of seed in the supply chain. Co-existence on the farm was reliant on physical containment to stop pollen dispersal and seed movement, which could be assisted by using biological/molecular containment through genetic manipulation to disrupt the pollination and fertilisation process.
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
OPINION: Voting is underway for Fonterra’s divestment proposal, with shareholders deciding whether or not sell its consumer brands business.
OPINION: Politicians and Wellington bureaucrats should take a leaf out of the book of Canterbury District Police Commander Superintendent Tony Hill.